Prelude to an Elizabethan Autumn

As autumn augurs bode the short'ning day,
I long for crops on which my sust'nance leans
And which will keep my hunger's pangs at bay—
Not thriftless be and left with meager means.
But work ahead I doth procrastinate
To walk through field and morning meadow dew
By fruit and corn of my dear lord's estate
And bid summer's dwellers early adieu:
Philomel on southward journey will fly
To 'scape frost's grip and winter's gloomy plight;
Leaf once green will color, then fall and dry
For sun doth vex its face with waning light.
   To harvest moon I'll turn and pray my fates
   Vouchsafe my passage through winter's dire straits.



  For

#45: word fishing*

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The 2008 Fall Equinox (09/22 15:44:18 UTC) occurred during the making of this poem.

* based on the five words that "jumped out at" me from Shakespeare's Sonnets:

Thriftless 2
Vouchsafe 32
Vex 92
Philomel 102
Augurs 107

(Why "Philomel" and "Thriftless" jumped out is obvious. "Vex" is like "Sex".)